Product: Color correcting Primer from Smashbox
Use: Correct and balance overage of red (green tint, pictured above), yellow (lavendar tint, not pictured), or other skin discoloration (apricot, not pictured)
SRP: $38 for 1 oz. pump bottle
Best Price: Sephora, get two 0.5 oz. tubes for $33 ($16.50 ea.)Anyone with perpetually rosy cheeks can tell you, calming down the redness and trying to reach that utopia of skin tone uniformity is a quest for the ages. Like many people, I have the triangles of deep red that never fade entirely, and burn true crimson if I’m given a reason to blush. And, like many people, I spent a while trying to cover the red rather than correcting it. Of course, this didn’t work, and I made my way through a handful of liquid, cream, and powder foundations before I realized that it wasn’t the makeup’s fault – there was just no holding this red back.

I started seeing green tinted face powders on the scene a couple of years ago, and of course it made sense – the green neutralizes the red! Wow, what a novelty! Why didn’t I think of this??? I picked up a green concealer stick and was on my way, or so I thought. Sure, it neutralized the red, but it left me looking like I’d either just been ill, or was about to be, and that was NOT what I was going for. I ditched the green and returned to my red-cheek-acceptance mode, where I remained for some time. Until the phone call.

One of my girls knows that my flaming cheeks have the tendency to drive me insane, primarily when my makeup for the day does not include colors that are complemented well by fuschia. She’d just picked up the Smashbox photo finish primer intended to correct redness, as she’s got a couple of trouble spots, and it was a miracle! The red was gone! The sky opened and the angels sang hallelujah! I knew I had to get this stuff, and fast. I found the half ounce tube at my local Sephora and in moments, I was out the door and headed back to my makeup mirror.

Smoothing the primer on was a unique experience for someone who had never used a facial product with silicone before; the consistency was light and airy, and it was like silk on my fingertips and my face. I could see the difference the tint made, not in an earth shattering way, but in a piece of the puzzle way – the green didn’t completely eradicate the red, but it did neutralize it enough so that a light mineral finishing powder was all it took to give my skin a consistent tone. The primer itself, aside from the color correct quality, worked nicely to provide a smooth base by filling pores and fine lines weightlessly. I was glad to have purchased the tube as opposed to the bottle, as I’ve had other “whipped” types of foundation in pump bottles, and the pump becomes useless towards the end of the product; I would have been scraping the sides long before I felt I’d gotten my $38 worth, I’m sure. As for the amount of product needed, I used less and less each time for the first several days, and ended up with a pea-sized amount providing enough coverage to prime my entire face without excess.

As Smashbox is one of the more expensive brands I’ll purchase myself, I’ll likely be picking up the next product I see that promises the same results, but has a more forgiving price tag. At the cost for the Photo Finish Primer, I would certainly rather find a comparable product for less, but I wouldn’t say no to purchasing this one again. As the color correct is only slightly more than the clear, I’d opt for
that as well, but if you’re trying to find complete color correction in a single product, I wish you luck, dear reader, and I wish you’d share if ever you find it!

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